


I Warned You About Swimming In The Rain

by LemonClementine



Category: Free!
Genre: Community: cottoncandy_bingo, Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, Illnesses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-20
Updated: 2014-05-20
Packaged: 2018-01-25 19:42:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1660190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LemonClementine/pseuds/LemonClementine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After swimming in a cold pool in early spring, in the middle of a rainstorm, Rin catches a nasty cold. Nitori helps take care of him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Warned You About Swimming In The Rain

“Sempai, I really think we should go back- it's getting cold and it looks like it's about to rain.” Nitori's voice really was annoying, Rin thought. Honestly, it wasn't as though he'd asked his roommate to follow him. Samezuka's pool was closed for cleaning that day, and the captain had given the swim team the day off from practice with the warning that he was going to run them ragged the next day. But Rin couldn't afford to slack off. Honestly, the pool wasn't _that_ dirty. Why did they have to clean it _now,_ of all times? He needed to practice if he wanted to properly beat Haru in a real race this time. 

 

Fortunately, the public pool was only a few stops on the train line away from Samezuka. And it was open. However, it was still fairly early in the season, and it had been a bitterly cold winter, so it was still fairly chilly. Not to mention that the pool was  _freezing._ That was both good and bad. Good, because that meant that he had the run of the place with the exception of Nitori and the bored-looking lifeguard paying more attention to her phone than to the pool's customers.  _Probably texting her boyfriend_ , Rin thought sarcastically. It was bad though, because the water really was  _insanely_ cold. But he didn't get sick easily and what kind of swimmer would he be if he let some cold water stop him from training? Haru would probably jump into an outdoor pool in January if he could get away with it, so why should he let a bit of chilly water in May stop him? 

 

“Sempai,” Nitori reiterated. “We really should get going. It's starting to rain!” 

 

Little raindrops were hitting the surface of the pool, making small ripples across the water. But it wasn't raining hard, and there wasn't any thunder. It was safe to stay in the pool, and he really did need to train. 

 

“No one said you had to come with me!” Rin barked before turning his attention back to the water. Nitori said something else, but Rin ignored him, turning back to practicing his front-crawl stroke. He swam several more laps, ignoring the steadily increasing rainfall. While he hadn't really expected Nitori to go back by himself, he was still surprised to see his underclassman sitting next to the pool, watching him, ignoring the fact that he was getting soaked to the bone in the frigid downpour. 

 

“S-sempai,” he said through chattering teeth, once he realized Rin was looking at him. “You r-really should g-get out... you'll catch c-cold.” 

 

“Worry about yourself,” Rin retorted. “You're soaked and you didn't even get in the pool!” 

 

“I d-d-don't want to leave you,” Nitori managed to get out. Rin rolled his eyes, then hoisted himself out of the pool. 

 

“Don't blame me tomorrow if you wake up tomorrow with a cold. I told you to go back and not to worry about me.” 

 

<hr>

 

Of course, the universe tends to have a very warped sense of humor. Nitori was perfectly fine the next day. Rin, on the other hand... was not. 

 

He awoke that morning feeling like someone had stuffed old gym socks into his mouth, and cotton balls up his nose. His head felt like a thousand jackhammers were pounding away inside of his skull, and he felt hot and cold, burning up and freezing to death all at once. Clearly, he was sick. When was the last time he'd even caught a small case of the sniffles, even? It must have been right after he'd gone to Australia. Yeah, that was it... he'd had to try to figure out what the hell the stuff in the drugstore there was. It had been so long now that he didn't remember what to do. He should take some medicine, shouldn't he? Except he so rarely got sick that he didn't have any, so he'd have to go find some. And where was Nitori? He'd probably have something. It always seemed like he had whatever Rin needed at the moment. He couldn't decide if it was convenient or stalker-y. Maybe a bit of both. 

 

Groaning, Rin reached for his cell phone to check the time. Maybe Nitori had gone to breakfast and decided to let him sleep? If that was the case, it was thoughtful of him, to let Rin sleep in like that. 

 

The glowing numbers on the phone's display read 11:45 AM. 

 

He'd been asleep that long, and Nitori hadn't bothered to try to wake him up? That was weird. Usually Nitori would bounce around and drive him crazy with his energetic antics until he got up and went to class. Nitori was very adamant about it being bad to miss class. So why hadn't he done that this morning? 

 

All that thinking made his head throb again, and Rin dropped the phone next to the pillow and flopped back down again. Okay, bad idea- that made it even harder to breathe than it already was, what with his nose so stuffed up and chest constricted. So he sort of weakly floundered around until he managed to get himself upright in the bed, propped up on some pillows. Maybe he could convince someone from the team to bring him some soup or something, but the idea of talking made his throat feel like he tried to gargle with sand, and thinking about looking at his overly-bright cell phone screen long enough to type a text message gave him an even worse headache. 

 

“Oh! Sempai! You're awake! Good!” Nitori's voice boomed. Or seemed like it was booming, anyway. Rin picked up the phone again to check the time and saw that it was 1:30. He must have dozed off, although he could have sworn he had just gotten up. 

 

“Sort... of,” he rasped, wincing at how raw his voice sounded. Nitori clucked sympathetically. 

 

“You didn't sleep very well last night,” the younger boy stated matter-of-factually. “You kept thrashing around and your breathing was so labored that I knew you had to have gotten sick. It's not good to push yourself when you're not feeling well, so I let you sleep this morning.” 

 

“Ah... thank you, I think?” 

 

“No need to thank me,” Nitori replied, not seeming to be put out at all by his sempai's attitude. “I don't have any medicine, but I asked Urihara-kun and he had some decongestants. So he gave me some. You should take them, and if you want, I can go get you some porridge from the cafeteria or something.” 

 

“Porridge?” Rin asked, wrinkling his nose. He _hated_ rice porridge. But it actually did sound strangely appealing right now. All that warm, soupy rice might feel good on his scratchy throat and warm his alternately freezing/burning body from the inside. 

 

“Uh, w-well, porridge is easy to digest, so it would be good for you,” Nitori said quickly, catching sight of Rin's scrunched-up face. 

 

“Yes... if you don't mind, please,” Rin replied after a pause. Nitori started. 

 

“Ah-- alright! Do you want the medicine now?” 

 

“Yes,” Rin said. Nitori brought the medicine over, and then looked around for something to drink. There wasn't anything, except for a half-empty bottle of Pocari Sweat that had probably been there for a few weeks. 

 

“Oh. Just wait a moment. I'll be right back. You can't take it dry.” 

 

Rin's eyes widened slightly at the accidental innuendo. If he'd been feeling better, he might have teased his roommate about “taking it dry,” but he was too tired and ill to care. Besides, he could tell that Nitori was just trying to look out for him. He'd probably seen some story on the television news about someone choking on their medication, or read about it in magazine. Nitori would get worried about the weirdest things. It would almost be cute if it wasn't so annoying. 

 

But he felt so bad that he would just have to put up with it. But if Nitori ever told anyone how reliant and pliant Rin was being with him today, he'd push him into the pool and make it look like an accident... 

 

A few minutes later, Nitori returned with both a bottle of water and a large bowl of hot rice porridge balanced precariously on one of the flimsy foam cafeteria trays. Rin's foggy brain stirred to wonder how the hell Nitori had managed to get the door open with his hands so full, but then the younger boy called out his thanks to an unseen person, who Rin belated realized must have been the one to open the door. 

 

“Thanks, Urihara-kun! I owe you one!” 

 

“Damn right you do! First I give you my medicine, then you make me carry all of your crap around! What kind of a friend are you, you moocher?” Rin blinked- why was this asshole talking to Nitori like that? He was only trying to help his sick roommate! Where did he get off? 

 

But Nitori just laughed. “Why don't we call it even for that 7,000  円　 you owe me, huh? 

 

The unseen Urihara-kun snorted. “Tch. Typical. I had thought you'd forgotten about that.” 

 

“Of course you're welcome to pay me back as well,” Nitori sing-songed. “Personally I think 7,000 円 is a lot more than what you did for me today.” 

 

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just go feed your roommate, moocher.” 

 

Nitori stepped into the room and bumped the door closed with his hip, setting the tray down next to Rin. “Sorry about that... it was a lot to carry and Urihara-kun agreed to help me.” 

 

“'Sokay,” Rin muttered, unwrapping the pills and taking them both at once with a slug of the water. Nitori was still watching him, like he was expecting something else. Oh, right. The porridge. Hesitantly, Rin picked up the spoon and scooped some of it up, watching the steam rising from it in lazy curls. He _really_ hated rice porridge, but he had technically asked for it. So he should just get over it and eat it. 

 

Huh. Not bad, actually. Rin wasn't sure if the porridge was less disgusting than usual, or if it was just that he was ill enough that  _anything_ would taste good as long as it was bland enough. 

 

Nitori watched him eat for a few more moments before checking his own phone. “Um, Sempai? I need to go back to class, but I'll bring you some miso soup from dinner. If you want, that is.” 

 

“Yeah, whatever,” Rin replied through a mouthful of porridge. Nitori grabbed his schoolbag and headed out again, but paused at the threshold of the door. 

 

“You'll let me know if you need anything else?” 

 

“Yeah, yeah. Go to class, Nitori,” Rin said, sluggishly waving a hand in dismissal. Then, just before the younger boy shut the door, added a gruff, “thanks.” 

 

“Just focus on getting well, Sempai,” Nitori replied with a small, soft smile. 

 

Rin really hated relying on others. If he couldn't do it on his own, then he just wouldn't do it. It wasn't worth the trouble of trying to get someone else to do something for you, and there was no guarantee that they wouldn't screw it up. 

 

But maybe, once in a while, if he was sick, it wasn't so bad after all. 

 

The End 

**Author's Note:**

> So over the weekend I mainlined Free! so I could watch the second season as it came out, and I ended up shipping everyone in various permutations. And yet I write a fluffy, goofy fic to start off with. Ah well.


End file.
